TRADE REALITIES AND THE STUDY OF LATIN
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The Committee on Education, for Salesmanship con- sider that " there is often a serious deficiency in the know- ledge and use of foreign languages on the part both of overseas representatives and of firms at home." The following numbers offering the different languages in the school certificate examinations of July, 1928, are significant :— French, 54,273 ; Latin, 23,558 ; German, 3,837 ; Spanish, 719. Those offering other languages may almost be counted on the fingers. The neglect of German is now perturbing the Board of Education, who, while pointing out that there is no kind of compulsion to make French virtually universal, find that " the study of Latin has been gaining ground in recent years " because " it is protected by the requirements of the Universities "'(Educational Pamphlet No. 77).
' Until we remove the artificial maintenance of this Renais- sance survival by institutions which themselves only half believe in it, those schools which teach a second language will have no genuine freedom in their choice. When that is gained, it will be time to modify popular opinion, which at present invariably demands French for those who learn only one foreign tongue.
There is no need in this connexion to argue the cultural value of the classics. The overwhelming majority of the 131,000 pupils learning Latin will never get beyond the initial drudgery of the groundwork, which is for many, to
quote an experienced' mistress, " a pure waste of time and
vexation of the spirit." Up to the school= certificateage of sixteen it is very difficult to claim any value in mental development for one language over another. If we build up a greatly widened tradition of language teaching much of the seed may fall on stony ground, as often now in the case of French (and nearly always with Latin), but we cannot fail to spread a greater understanding of other nations and to create a nucleus whose continued interest will stand our country in good stead in our inter- national relations and in our export trade.
I am sorry to speak disrespectfully of Latin, but it is the one school subject which is bolstered up by much harmful cant and mental dishonesty.—I am, Sir, &e.,
MUTUAL DEPENDENCE.
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